Can The Secret Service Be Fixed, Part 8?

In Can the Secret Service Be Fixed 7? I wrote of Jonathan Tran, who, according to the information available at the time, scaled a fence and was captured at a residence entrance of The White House. Contemporaneous news accounts suggested Tran scaled a fence, ran to the door of The White House, and was captured. That’s not quite correct; it’s worse. Much, much worse, asThe Blaze reports:

Secret Service agents are ‘angry’ and ‘extremely disappointed’ after a White House intruder was able to scale three security barriers and stay on the White House grounds for at least 16 minutes late last Friday night, March 10.

According to a statement from the Secret Service made public on Friday, the intruder, 26-year-old Jonathan Tran, scaled three separate fences, ranging from 3 to 8 feet in height, beginning around 11:22 p.m. EST last Friday.

It wasn’t until 11:38 p.m. EST that uniformed Secret Service agents located and apprehended Tran.

The agency’s statement read:

At 11:21:38 pm an individual breached an outer perimeter fence near the Treasury complex, near East Executive Avenue. This fence is approximately 5 feet in height. The individual proceeded within the secure perimeter and scaled an 8 foot vehicle gate. The individual then proceeded to climb over a 3 ½ foot fence near the SE corner of the East Wing of the White House grounds.

Uniformed Division Officers attempted to ascertain the location and identity of the individual. At 11:38:00 pm, the individual was taken into custody on the grounds without incident.

“Angry” and “Disappointed?” Golly. One would hope so. Other news reports tell an even more dismal story. Tran’s excellent journey around the grounds apparently set off a variety of alarms, and at least a few Secret Service personnel did respond, in a manner of speaking, but at least at one point, Tran was able to elude them by simply standing behind a column. If the Secret Service can be believed, Tran never made it in the White House, unlike the last intruder, and was captured within about 17 minutes, only because he directly approached and spoke to a guard near an entrance door. Tran was carrying a backpack, was armed with pepper spray, and faces up to ten years in prison. Considering the utter lack of credibility of virtually every branch of the Federal Government, a dubious distinction eight years in the making, it would not be unreasonable to believe Tran was on the grounds a much longer time, and actually entered The White House. The Secret Service’s record over the last few years is not conducive to bolstering its credibility.

The US Secret Service said on Friday a laptop was stolen from an agent’s car in New York City but that such agency-issued computers contain multiple layers of security and are not permitted to contain classified information.

Uh-huh. So what, exactly, did the laptop contain, then?

ABC News, citing law enforcement sources, said the laptop contained floor plans for Trump Tower, details on the criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and other national security information. [skip]

CBS News, also citing law enforcement sources, said that some of the documents on the computer included important files on Pope Francis.

The agent also told investigators that while nothing about the White House or foreign leaders is stored on the laptop, the information there could compromise national security, the Daily News reported.

Golly. One would hope so. Other news sources have added some additional, interesting information. The Secret Service is claiming the information on the laptop is encrypted and the laptop can be erased remotely, however, apparently information relating to Trump Tower includes escape plans and protocols. If the Secret Service is indeed “scrambling like mad,” that would seem to suggest that either the data is not encrypted, the hard drive can’t be remotely erased, both, or things are even worse than they’ve been willing to admit. I’d vote for the last possibility.

The Secret Service is certainly not the only federal agency capable of monumental screw-ups. The BATFE’s Fast and Furious debacle–though much of the fault lies with Barack Obama and Erik Holder and their toadies–is merely one example. I’ve told this story before, but it bears telling again.

H&K MP5 Submachine Gun

During my last police days, an afternoon shift was preparing to head out on the street, when a skateboarder carved his way into the garage and scooted up to several officers. In his hands was an actual H&K MP5 submachine gun, loaded. Fortunately, he was smart enough not to hold it as though he were about to fire it, and the officers were cool enough not to shoot him. The story was simplicity in itself. The youngster and his pals were skating in the parking garage under the local Federal building, and found the subgun, unattended, on the trunk of a car. Ooops! He and his buddies skated through the downtown business district on their way to us, carrying the gun. His pals decided to wait outside while he brought it to a cop.

A few phone calls later brought a very red faced FBI agent to the police department, where a Sgt. handed him the subgun, its magazine removed. He was polite, and the Fibby was as contrite as it’s possible for a human being to be, or so I’m told. I wasn’t there for the fun that day.

Unfortunately, even the federal government must hire from the human race, though where Congress is concerned, I’m not so sure. Consider this from a former Secret Service agent,via Lifezette:

Former U.S. Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino insisted that President Donald Trump ‘is not safe at the White House anymore’ because the Secret Service is ‘not serious about the security plan’ during an interview Saturday on Fox News.[skip]

‘The president, in my humble opinion, is just not safe at the White House anymore because they’re not serious about the security plan,’ Bongino said. ‘They’re serious about how the White House looks and uniform division, but they’re just not serious about the security plan at the White House anymore.’

Following the security breach, CNN obtained a statement from the Secret Service in which the agency said ‘nothing of concern to security operations was found.’ Bongino took issue with that claim. [skip]

The former Secret Service agent insisted the problem exists because the agency ‘knows what has to be done’ but refuses to do it for a variety of reasons.

‘You can put double fencing. You can angle the fencing outward so it’s nearly impossible to scale. You can put more personnel and special weapons on the South Lawn,’ Bongino suggested. “But the show point is, there are interests in the White House, staff interests — maybe not from this administration, but certainly from prior administrations — that have stopped that because, ‘Oh, it doesn’t look good. You don’t want to make it look like an armed camp.’ Which is ridiculous.’ [skip]

‘This is the soberest analysis you’re gonna get … There are people who know that they are not prepared,’ Bongino said. “How much more of a sobering analysis can you get? They’re just not ready. And they’re not serious about it because they know the ramifications of what would happen if there were multiple people with heavy weapons jumping that fence. They know it. That means they’re not being serious about it.

There are a variety of “attack on the White House movies” where multiple armed terrorists attack and seize the White House and the president. It would appear such a fanciful plot is far less fanciful than we’ve been led to believe, and it’s doubtful there will be a manly hero that will save the day from out of nowhere, because the Secret Service, when it comes to protecting the President, is apparently nowhere.

Barack Obama was one of the worst mistakes Americans have ever made. He has already, on purpose or through incompetence, done enormous damage to America and to the world, and we’ll be blessed by the Almighty if he does not cause, through acts or omissions, the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans or Israelis before he leaves office. He deserves to be impeached, convicted, prosecuted and imprisoned. Most of his cronies belong behind bars. But we absolutely cannot allow him to be successfully attacked and/or killed.

I do not say this because I think Joe Biden would be worse. In his own way, he would, but we’ve had moral reprobates who touch and leer at little girls and other men’s wives in high office before. Allowing any American president to be harmed, particularly while in office, or even thereafter, would reduce America to third class status. It would encourage every lunatic hoping for everlasting fame to take a run at whoever was president. Worse, it would encourage our Islamist enemies, those Mr. Obama dare not name, those that want to kill us all, like virtually nothing else. It would be a national security disaster that would rock the world.

But imagine, gentle readers, what it would do to race relations in America. Barack Obama is unimpeachable because of his race. The same will probably be true of the first female president. If he was, God forbid, killed in office, can you imagine the lunatic theories? Can you imagine the race riots, the political opportunists declaring martial law, suspending the Constitution and elections? Can you imagine the lives that would be lost, the property destroyed, the world thrown into chaos, our enemies taking full advantage of the situation around the world?

We must do everything possible to ensure that Barack Obama leaves Washington DC in January of 2017 in good health. The problem is: who is going to ensure that? More and more, it looks like it will not be the United States Secret Service.

This applies to every president.

It’s tempting to think this incredible incompetence is part of the concerted effort by Democrats and the Deep State, which are essentially one in the same, to be rid of President Trump. They failed to turn faithless electors against the Constitution, they’ve failed every other idiotic plot, so now they’re using the Secret Service to expose him to danger. Of course, one should never ascribe to conspiracy what can be explained by plain old governmental stupidity and incompetence. President Trump has publically expressed his confidence in the Secret Service, but one hopes behind the scenes he is rather more serious about his life and the lives of his family and staff.

Kerry O’Grady: “Never mind.”

I suspect Mr. Bongino is correct. The rank and file agents are probably dedicated and exceptional people, with some notable exceptions like Kerry O’Grady, in charge of the Secret Service Denver office, who, on social media, said she’d rather go to jail than take a bullet for Donald Trump, who she characterized as a “disaster for America.” She later said: “only kidding! ha-ha!” and is currently suspended while an “investigation” is ongoing. I wrote about that happy situation in Can the Secret Service Be Fixed 6? That was back at the beginning of February, and she is apparently still on the payroll. Perhaps she was in charge of the White House detail when Mr. Tran decided to train for the Olympic Steeplechase?

What I still can’t understand is why anyone that jumps the fence at the White House and rushes the building isn’t blown out of their socks. I also can’t understand why the management of the Secret Service, incompetents that have presided over debacle after debacle, incidents that could very easily have cost lives, and which have shown the way for terrorists around the world, are still employed.

Barack Obama had a pen and phone, but Donald Trump has a “you’re fired,” and we know he knows how to use it. I rather wish he would.